Watching the oldest fixture in world rugby: The Rugby World Bucket List

The year is 1864. The Union has begun to make great advances against the Confederate Army in the American Civil War as President Abraham Lincoln is elected for a second term. After unifying Italy three years earlier, Giusseppe Garibaldi takes a city break to London, which is celebrating the grand opening of Charing Cross Station.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel smashes a bottle of bubbly against the newly-opened Clifton Suspension Bridge and a small brewery called Heineken starts filling bottles with lager over in the Netherlands. And on a chilly afternoon, Richmond invite recent Football Association exiles Blackheath to Richmond Green for an unratified game of “rugby-style” football.

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Played on 2 January 1864, it was an all-timer that finished 0-0. More than 161 years later, on a sun-dappled afternoon on 26 April 2025, Richmond host Blackheath again; this time it’s in the semi-pro English National League One in front of a healthy crowd enjoying pints, hotdogs and rugby in what is the oldest inter-club rugby fixture in the world.

So far the bucket-list series has taken us far and wide, sitting us pitchside at some of the biggest and best club and national sides in the world. The crème de la crème of global rugby. This bucket list, however, is different to usual proceedings. In effect, it’s a game of amateur rugby among two local communities beyond the glitz and glamour of television broadcasting and astronomical ticket prices.

A ‘proper’ game of rugby, as some may say, especially at a time where the connection between the top and the rest is as disparate as ever. This fixture is a polite, friendly affair with a 161-year rivalry rooted in an intertwining history of connection between the two London clubs. From day dot, the teams have been like two peas in a pod.

The oldest fixture: History of the tradition

Blackheath came to be in 1858, making it the oldest independent rugby club in existence, and was one of the founding members of the Football Association. Richmond was founded three years later. Their first game was in 1864 and by 1871, both were central to the formation of the Rugby Football Union after Richmond’s Edwin Ash and Blackheath’s Benjamin Burns published a letter in The Times calling for “those who play the rugby-type game to meet to form a code of practice as various clubs play to rules which differ from others, which makes the game difficult to play”.

The teams merged for one season after the Second World War, playing 15 games as a combined club. In the following years, Richmond and Blackheath have acted as the grandfathers of English rugby, there or thereabouts in the higher leagues, respected as elders by those around them. Even in the late 1990s, after Richmond fell upon financial hardship and went from the Premiership to the foot of the pyramid, the clubs remained connected through regular friendlies. The bond has never really broken.

The birdseye view (Dom Thomas)

In 2025, today’s game has added meaning to it too. Richmond have already been confirmed as champions of National League One and are therefore returning to the professional setting of the Championship – a feat to be admired considering the club’s position not long ago. This is the last home game of the year against their old rivals in front of 1,700 fans, some of whom have been sipping red at the President’s Lunch most of the afternoon, with the trophy presentation to finish things off. A win feels necessary.

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While it’s hardly an ‘away day’, Blackheath have brought a few hundred across the South Circular divide for this fixture and I meet a gaggle of them making a similar trip to the Richmond Athletic Ground to myself. Taking advantage of cheap pints at the Wetherspoons underneath Waterloo Station, club caps peaked and pulled down, this particular group follow Blackheath home and away most weekends, except for when it requires an overnight stay.

Repeat customers

Combined, John, Mark and Matt have been following Blackheath up and down the country for over 100 years. And while Blackheath has provided some interesting away-day destinations, it’s this short two-train journey that sees an annual red cross put in the calendar for the most fervent of supporters. “I’ve been coming for 50-and-a-bit years and Richmond has always been a constant,” Mark explains over a lager.

“It’s a good rivalry that happens every year regardless of whether we are in the same league.” Matt adds: “The game as a whole is largely about tradition and keeping games like this going is fantastic. It’s also a proper bragging rights battle between South-East and South-West London. Of course, while South-West may have the money, transport, housing and higher-placed rugby teams, it’s not as good as the South-East.”

Fans wear Richmond shirts (Dom Thomas)

Being from the South-East myself, I hold a similar opinion of the South-West. With their tube lines, green spaces and endless supply of rugby talent provided by London’s city-working population, you could put it down to jealousy. The South-West of London has always felt like alien territory.

Getting off the train, rather than heading straight to the ground I head towards the river, walking through the high street and to the White Cross pub. Its large frontage overlooks the lapping waves of the Thames, flanked by an army of people enjoying the sunshine and Aperol Spritz, some of them in Red Roses cowboy hats ready to wander along to England’s Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam decider against France at HQ later that afternoon. Runners and dog walkers weave between the fans in this picture perfect snapshot of suburban bliss.

The South-West is also littered with successful amateur rugby clubs. It has always felt like such a stronghold for the sport and so different to the South-East of the same city only a few miles away as the crow flies. No wonder Richmond is in such rude health, as club president James Foster explains to me before the game.

“We’re committed to being a proper, sustainable rugby club,” he tells Rugby World. “We have five senior men’s teams, including a vets team. We have two women’s teams and a mini and youth system throughout the age groups. We also have walking and touch rugby. We don’t want to be reliant on a financial benefactor. We want to, at worst case, break even every year. We are a club for the community.”

‘A day out including a coffee hut pouring more-than-alright flat whites’

One of the great things about it all is that there’s a warming mix of amateurism and professionalism at Richmond. When we arrive about 90 minutes before kick-off, we are treated to Richmond and Blackheath’s second XVs going hammer and tong as a free curtain-raiser. Huddled around the pitch are many of the day’s first-team players hurling abuse-shaped support at their team-mates. In the far corner is a junior rugby tournament between clubs from the area.

At the main stand, a new energy drink company is giving out free samples next to a barrel-drum barbeque pumping out lukewarm frankfurters and a coffee hut pouring more-than-alright flat whites. Shuffling into the main bar, we treat ourselves to a pint of Asahi for a little under £6 that we get in a paper cup. While there, I bump into the rivals of the Blackheath Ultras, their Richmond counterparts, aged between 60 and 88 and well tanked on red wine, all wearing home shirts from various years of the club’s existence.

A BBQ on offer to fans (Dom Thomas)

One tells me a long anecdote from the glory days of Scott Quinnell and Ben Clarke while another insists I take a photo with him. All, though, are in agreement that this game against Blackheath is as special as it gets. “I remember when Richmond were a professional club playing against Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and that was great, but this is better,” Ron tells me. “There’s just shy of 2,000 people here at what is effectively an amateur game of rugby enjoying themselves.”

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The rugby is good here too. Let’s not ignore that Tier Three rugby is a high standard and you pay £19 for a ticket for a reason. Trickle-down tactics mean that a lot of what you see week in, week out in the Premiership or URC is on show here. Blackheath utilise a set-piece move that sees the scrum-half loop the first receiver on multiple occasions, just like Gloucester, while Richmond have nailed the arrowhead forward formation that Leinster and Ireland have notably coined.

It creates moments of magic, like when a cross-field kick is neatly popped back inside for Man of the Match Sam Smith to touch down for the home side. Richmond eventually win 40-26 to crown their year in perfect fashion.

A brutal tackle during the match (Dom Thomas)

Next season Richmond will mix it in the professional ranks of the Championship and they have hopes of one day returning to the Premiership. Likewise, Blackheath hold similar aspirations, should the drawbridge to the top tier not be hoisted up by the RFU before they reach it. If both clubs were to make the top flight, you have to wonder whether this amateur alchemy would be lost.

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It’s a point of difference for rugby fans who can just watch the game at its simple best. After all, both clubs have done such a job to build a team for their respective communities, away from the professional circus, which in Richmond’s case is just two miles up the road. “When people ask why they should watch a Richmond game over a Harlequins game, I think it’s a great question,” says Foster. “You can go to see Harlequins, which I do often because I love their style of rugby. But you can come to Richmond and have a different experience.

“You can wander round the pitch, have a beer more easily and chat to people. You also still get a very good standard of rugby because this is a good standard. And you can have a pint with a player after the game.” Now that is worth the admission price alone.